Effect of a Gamer's Soul
by KNIGH7DRAGON3
Summary: A man becomes the Gamer, and is transported to the SoulsBorne universe, and then again to the world of Mass Effect. How does having an OC with experience in combat change the game?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my original characters.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"I'm sick of this life. No more. I'm going to end it."

Sirens down below, news choppers hovering over head.

"Sir, please come down from the ledge! It doesn't have to end this way!"

I scoffed. "Yes it does." And I jumped. For a glorious few seconds, I was finally free. Free of the pain. The only things I knew were the near deafening sound of wind rushing past, and the rapture of freedom. Then nothing.

XxXx XxXx

 **You died.**

Large floating red letters spread across my vision, against a back drops of darkness.

' _What the hell? What the fuck is going on here?'_

The letters faded away, and were replaced by new ones.

 **You've met with a terrible fate haven't you?**

I didn't reply. I couldn't. I was in shock, unable to comprehend what was happening.

 **Such a shame. All that potential, gone because of a disease.**

' _I know, suicide is the cowards way out, but I just couldn't handle the pain anymore,'_ I whispered quietly.

 **I know child. I don't blame you. Not in the least. But you lasted longer than most could have under those conditions. That you lasted until those doctors ran all their tests, and found a cure for the early stages is worthy of the highest praise. Because of your fortitude, dozens will be cured before the disease can progress as far as yours did. Such a shame the final stage was completely incurable. You deserved to live a full life for what you did to save others your pain.**

' _I knew that they wouldn't be able to cure it once it progressed to the final stages, that was clear to me from the beginning. I didn't do it to cure myself.'_

 **That only makes your sacrifice all the more powerful. You made a sacrifice no one else would, for no gain of your own. 10 years of agonizing pain, just others might be spared, knowing full well you would not be cured. In light of this act of selfless heroism, it has been decided to give you a reward. Another chance at life, a life free from the pain you suffered.**

I stood stock still, shocked' _Me? Another shot at life?'_

 **Yes. One with a special body that cannot be permanently injured, and a mind that will always be whole. Take your time to decide.**

Still in shock, I thought about it. The chance to life with a whole mind and a sound body. It was tempting. Very much so. But…

' _I am sorry. Thank you for the offer, it's extremely generous. But I must decline. As I'm sure you're aware, I spent the last three years in the Medicuboid. It didn't help with the pain, but at least when I was in the virtual world, I could do more than lay in a bed and have tests run on me all day. And after three years of being essentially superhuman, I don't think I can handle going back to normal. Plus with the body you want to give me, I'd probably end up back on the experiment table, and not by choice. '_

 **It was not planned to send you back to the world you came from. A soul cannot be reincarnated into the world in which it died. That would disturb the delicate balance of souls. Instead you would be sent to a world of your choosing, where you'd be given a certain ability, and left to life your life the way you see fit. Still wish to decline?**

I thought for a minute, an internal debate raging. On one hand, I was tired from my years in the hospital, wasting away, subjected to test after test, treatment after treatment, waiting for them to find a cure, or pass away. But on the other hand, I had a new chance at life. Turning it down would be like committing suicide all over again. It was hard enough to do the first time around. I don't think I have it in me to do it again.

' _Sure, I'll take your offer. Not like I've got anything to lose. So where do I get to go?'_

 **Where ever you want.**

' _Do I get to pick the time, or is it random?'_

 **You chose.**

' _Well then, I want to go to Lordran. I want to replace the chosen undead._

 **Very well, it will be done. Now to give you your power.**

A new set of words, this time in blue appeared before my eyes.

 ** _Welcome to The Game._**

' _No fucking way, I'm going to be a gamer? This fucking rocks! I don't think I could have come up with a power I want more! Thank very much!'_

 ** _Now it's time to set your appearance._**

Suddenly, a featureless, nude Male body appeared in front of me, with some options and sliders to play around with.

' _Well alright then, let's do this.'_

I set my height to six foot five inches, I gave myself broad shoulders, and a strong jawline. I made my hair grow down to mid back, tied it up in a low ponytail, and made it wild and spiky, and colored it a deep blood red. Then I gave my self emerald green eyes and a handsome, regal facial structure.

' _With this body, I gonna be drowning in women Haha! You know… if there were any sane human women in Lordran that is…. Anyway, thanks for not making me keep that scrawny, plain looking body I did have.'_

 **You're welcome, child. Now go, your new home, your new life, your new story awaits.**

I felt like I was falling again, then my vision flashed white.

xXxX xXxX

I sat bolt upright, breathing heavily, frantically looking around, attempting to get my bearings back. I was inside a rotting cell. Everything was gray, and frozen, and I noticed a popup, asking me to chose my starting class and gift. So, of course I picked Pyromancer, and master key. But everything stayed grayed out.

"What the hell? Why won't it let me start?" Then I notice that the option to pick a starting gift was still available. I realized that it was letting me pick a second gift. Which of course is going to be the Old Witches ring. As soon as I selected it, I felt the pyromancers robes equip themselves, and the ring appear on my finger. Then the popup vanished, and a new one appeared in its place.

 **Welcome to the Game. We are going to skip most of the tutorials, seeing as how you are mostly familiar with how this works. So your base stats are as follows.**

 **Strength: 12**

 **Endurance:11**

 **Dexterity:10**

 **Wisdom:8**

 **Intelligence:10**

 **Charisma:12**

 **Some stats have been changed for simplicity's sake. Faith has become Wisdom, vitality has been removed, as has resistance. And Charisma has replaced Attunement since you won't be limited on the number of spells you can know. Now, as a gift for you, you have been allowed to pick two starting gifts, and will be granted 20 stat points to start with. Distribute them now please.**

I dropped six points into Wisdom, and 10 into Dexterity. Then I dropped my last four into strength.

 **Now, you can gain stat points in three ways. By using souls, by doing things related to the stats, and by leveling up. You will be granted 10 points per level up. Be warned, the only way to level up in this game is to kill powerful beings, and consume their Soul. This consumption can some times grant powers the former owner possessed. Now the tutorial is over. Now go forth, and be prepared to die!**

The color faded back into the world, and I felt the knowledge of how to cast fireball slam into my head.

"Interesting. The pyromancy glove converts pure intent and raw emotion into a flame."

I opened my inventory and pulled out my master key and opened the cell door, tossed the key back in, and ran forward, down the rotting hallway, ignoring the poor souls lost to the fade. Up the ladder, and to the first bonfire of my journey. I reached out and touched the sword embedded in the ashes. I felt _something_ leap from my body to the pile of bones and ash, and it began to burn with a heatless flame, that somehow still felt warm. I basked in the glow for a moment, and soaked in the warmth that, deep down, I knew to be the warmth of _home._ Then, with great reluctance, I peeled myself away, and walked through the doors, and sprinted past the Asylum Demon, and to the second bonfire, which I lit on my way past, without much pause, and sprinted up the hall way, pausing long enough to grab my axe, and dodged an arrow.

' _Hmm… I wonder…'_

As I continued to rush the archer hollow, dodging his follow up shot, I drew back my axe, and _heaved_ it at the retreating hollow. I watched it spin end over end, and then bury itself in the creature's skull with a meaty thunk. The hollow stood stock still for a moment, then burst into a cloud of white particles, which then rushed to me, weightlessly slamming into my chest and vanishing. My vision flashed for a moment, then a bunch of bars and numbers appeared in front of me. I tried to move my head a bit and realized they were fixed in place.

"Oh, hey, I guess I have a HUD now. And look at that, it's the standard Dark souls 3 HUD without the item cross. Huh, neat."

I began to sprint once again, rushing to the my fallen axe, stooping to pick it up without breaking my stride. The I followed the hallway to the first fog gate of my new life. I paused to think for a moment.

"Seems almost… monumental. Like this is the mark of the true beginning of my new life".

I put my hand on it, and pushed it through, the fog feeling both weighty and weightless at the same time, and walked through. Then I walked just a bit up the staircase to bait down the boulder, and rolled out of the way, opening the path to Oscar.

"Hell*ghurk!*"

With a wet squelch, I pulled my axe from his skull, and quickly snatched the sword and shield before he burst into souls, leaving the Estus flask and key on the ground, which I scooped up and threw into my inventory. I held the sword in my left hand, my axe in my right.

"Well this is off to a fantastic start."

I walked to the boss fog, and slew the hollows in my way, grabbing my pyromancy glove on the way past, and putting it on my left hand.

I stepped through the fog, and took a running leap, plunging down, and unleashing an inhuman howl. I lashed out, both with axe and sword, the beast losing both eyes, and roaring in pain. I ripped my axe free leaving the sword embedded in the demon's ruined eye socket, and pushed off, preparing a fireball as I fell. And I let it free as soon as I hit the ground, causing the fell beast to lose the remainder of its life, and burst into souls.

"That… was disappointingly easy…"

A notification popped up, telling me I received the Soul of the Asylum Demon, and the pilgrim's key. I crushed the soul in my hand, and got a new popup.

 **You have leveled up. 10 Stat Points. You gained skill Wings of a Demon.**

 **Wings of a Demon**

 **Kind of what it says on the box. Demonic wings. You can fly. Any armor or clothing will be adjusted automatically to account for the wings when you activate this skill. Speed is 10 mph per point in Dexterity. Maximum range of flight is 1 mile per point in Endurance.**

"Cool, now I don't have to rely on that crow to get me back and forth." I activated the skill, and large bat like wings sprouted from my shoulders. I flapped them a few times to get a feel for how to work them. They were quite easy to make move. I began to move them a bit faster, and with a rotating flap, like an owl or hummingbird would, and I began float. I flitted around the room, testing my limits, and once I was satisfied, I land in front of the locked door, and pulled the key from my inventory. With just a little hesitation, I slotted the key into the lock, and turned the rusty key in the stiff lock. The lock clicked, and the enormous stone doors swung open, and I was blasted with the frigid air. I took a deep breath, and enjoyed the fresh air for a moment, the spread my wings and took to the sky.

 ** _A Very, Very, Very Long Time Later_**

I ripped the silver blade of the Holy Moonlight Sword free from the now cooling corpse of the ancient Queen Yharnam, and flicked the blood free with a flourish, and returned the blade to the hanger on my back and removed my featureless bone white mask. I popped a blood vial, and took a swig of estus, and sighed as relief flooded my body, easing the pains of a hard-fought battle, and healing my wounds. Then I cast a Repair spell, and the cuts in my custom armor sealed shut, and the bloodstains vanished, leaving the black trench coat, light chest plate, blood red in color, and my baggy leather pants, also black, with blood red plates on my outer thighs, and shins, looking as pristine as the day I forged and enchanted them. Only then did I pay attention to the popup that showed up after the fight.

 **You have gained Soul of Yharnam.**

I pulled said soul out of my inventory and crushed it in my hands.

 **You leveled up. 10 SP. You have gained skill Blood Clones**

 **Blood Clones**

 **A fully formed clone formed from a single drop of blood. Capable of all your skills and abilities. Dispels after one hit.**

"Hmm. Useful, if I can't use my mana." I dropped my points into Dexterity.

 **STR: 1534**

 **DEX: 2097**

 **END: 1765**

 **INT: 2501**

 **WIS:2011**

 **CHA: 2222**

I closed out my menus, and popped a Bold Hunters Mark, and returned to the dream.

"Hello Good Hunter. Gehrman awaits you in the clearing, under the tree," came the voice of an angel, the Doll, the only voice I did not dread to hear on this long night.

I paused for a minute, and took a deep, laborious breath.

"Yes, my friend. I know."

And I went to confront Gehrman, and end this Nightmare that had gone on far, far to long.

XxXx xXxX

As I approached Gehrman, I drew the Holy Moonlight Sword with my right hand, and the custom catalyst I built to act as a chime, a talisman, a catalyst, and a pyromancer's focus all in one.

"Gehrman, I know why you wish to see me. And my answer is no. I will not just lay down and allow you to kill me. So, stand and fight."

The old man let out a deep, world weary sigh and shook his head. "Couldn't make this easy for the both of us? Very well. I guess it is time Gehrman rejoins the Hunt." And no more words were spoken between us.

I quickly cast Tears of Denial, Soothing Sunlight and Replenishment is rapid succession, then let loose a barrage of Farron Hail, which the old hunter deftly dodged. As he dashed closer, scythe ready for a diagonal slice, I loosed a Great Combustion followed by a Black Flame Whip, halting him in his tracks, and forcing him to dash back, lest he be burned. Then, with a pair of swings of my blade, two crescents of green light, one horizontal, one vertical, burst through the smoke and fire, which he only barely managed to dash away from. Again, I raised my staff, and unleashed a trio of Crystal Soul Spears, and then followed closely behind, sword ready for a powerful swing. Gehrman managed to deflect the first two with his scythe, but the third caught him flat footed, burying itself in his chest, and causing a howl of pain to escape his lips. And then, I was on him, sinking the magical edge of my sword into his neck, and then, with a burst of intent, I detonated the green halo of light surrounding the silver blade, obliterating his head, and causing his body to burst into souls. Everything was still for a moment, not even the grass moving with the wind. Then I got another popup.

 **You have gained the Soul of Gehrman. You have gained Gehrman's scythe.**

I popped the soul, and got 10 more points, which were dropped into Dex. I didn't get a new skill, but I wasn't really disappointed. Kind of already have all the skills I could ever need.

 **Do you wish to face the Moon Presence?**

I closed my eyes, and centered myself, allowing the battlefog to clear from my mind. Then I popped a blood-vial, knocked back a swig of both of my Estus (a/n esti?), and ate a green blossom. Then I tossed my Holy Moonlight sword into my inventory and withdrew an old favorite of mine. A good old-fashioned Smelter Hammer. The enormous weight of the hunk of slag and steel feeling like an old friend in my hand. I passed my catalyst over it, imbuing it with the potent power of darkness. Then I cast my standard buff set, and took another drink of my Ashen Estus, and then selected yes.

I felt reality shift and twist, as if it was unable to adjust to the presence of the utterly alien being descending from the moon. The ghastly creature alighted on the ground and stared.

"Well, are you going to fight, or just sit there?" As soon as the last syllable left my mouth, the Presence leapt at me with the speed and grace of a tiger. I only just managed to dodge the unexpected attack, and retaliate with a fast swipe with Farron Flash-sword, scoring a superficial cut on the beasts shoulder. As I regained my footing, I lashed out with my Turkeyle- I mean Smelter Hammer, trying to cave in its chest, but it leaned back, and my swing went wide. The immense momentum of the slab of slag spun me around, exposing my back to eldritch horror, and received a mighty punch for my troubles, sending me tumbling away. I quickly caught my balance, and slid to a halt. I now knew that the Presence was far to fast for my hammer to be effective, so I tossed it back into my inventory and drew out a second copy of my custom catalyst.

"Let's see how you handle this."

I began casting a barrage of every spell I could think of, Sunlight Spears, Chaos firestorms, Forbidden Suns, Soul arrows. If I knew it, I was casting it. A veritable wall of ice, fire, earth, lightning and soul magics spewed fourth from my twisting, writhing movement. In the span of a few seconds, my hailstorm of elements collided with the Great One, resulting in a calamitous explosion that nearly knocked me to the ground. As the dust cleared, a terrible shriek of pain split the air, and the Presence leapt at me again. This time, though I was ready, and I swatted it out of the air with a dual cast of emit force, and leapt in the air, and allowed a black blade of cursed soul energy form around my catalyst and slammed the edge into the now prone form of my opponent. All was still for a moment, and then its corpse burst into a mist of souls and I glanced at the new popup and popped the soul.

 **You gained 10 SP. You gained skill Great One's Knowledge.**

 **Great One's Knowledge**

 **You know what the Great Ones know. You can use that Knowledge to travel to new dimensions.**

I was in shock. I had spent eons in this world, killing, surviving, and killing some more. I came to this world, expecting to link the flame, and that would be the end of it. I'd enjoy a few months of life, work of the frustrations of being laid in a bed and experimented on for 10 years, then throw my self into the fire, and that would be the end of it. But no, the combination of me now being an Undead, and The Gamer, meant that I literally could not die. Ever. For eons, I had roamed the planet, killing everyone and everything in my way. No rest. Just cycle after endless cycle. Death, rebirth, then die in the kiln. First was Lordran, and then 1000 cycles. Then was Drangleic, and another 1000 cycles. Then came Boletaria, and more cycles than I could begin to count. Then, Lothric was born, and I though, that finally, after so long, it was coming to a close. But I was wrong. I became the Lord of Hollows and ushered in the Age of Men. For thousands of years, there was peace, and I enjoyed being able to hang up my sword. I relaxed, living in the remote mountains, studying magic, and pyromancy and miracles. Learning to forge from Andre, who survived the End of the Age of Fire, and figuring out how to enchant the things I had forged, duplicating my rings. Then one day after 100 years of isolation, I journeyed to the nearest city to pick up some cloth and metal. And to my horror, discovered that the nearest city was Yharnam. And the beast plague was in full swing. And so, I took up the mantle of Hunter, and slaughtered my way through the eldritch abominations to slay the Moon Presence, and end the Nightmare. And now that I had, I was being presented with the ability to find a new home, away from the cycle of death and undeath in this world. My knees buckled, and I landed knee first, staring unseeingly into the night sky unshed tears finally falling from my eyes after so many centuries.

XxXx xXxX

After an unknown amount of time allowing emotions I had bottled up to flow free, I gathered my self back up, both metaphorically and physically, cast both a Refresh and a repair, and tested out my new skill.

"Great One's Knowledge."

A great amount of information rushed into my mind, secrets of the universe-no the multiverse- spilled into me.

"Ah, so that's how it's done. Seems… oddly simple. I was half expecting a blood sacrifice or some shit. Actually kinda disappointed…."

I shrugged off that line of thought, and reached out my hand, as if grabbing a key, flooded the air with my mana, and twisted. And just like that, the gateway between dimensions was open. All I had to do was step through.

XxXx xXxX

A bright light obscured my vision for a moment, before clearing to reveal a very large, open room, built to mimic a park, complete with trees and streams. It would be indistinguishable from any normal park back on Earth, were it not for the flying car things over head. And the metal ceiling. And the blue ladies with tentacle hair. And the turtle-crocodile-man things. And the fat midgets wearing space suits. And the bird people.

"This is the Mass Effect universe, isn't it?"

Just as the realization dawned on me, I heard the sound of running feet closing in on me.

 _'Must be C-Sec. That's… a shockingly fast response for a police force. I've only been here for a few moments. I wonder if the portal let through some kind of energy signal they detected? Food for thought later. Now how to get out of this?'_

I heard the sound of half a dozen guns being drawn, and safeties being flicked off. I slowly raised my hands, and turned to face the boys in blue.

"Good evening officers. I don't suppose you could tell me where the hell I am?"

The lead officer, a male Turian pointed his pistol directly at my head and… proceeded to say something in some kind of chirpy language that I couldn't understand.

"My apologies, good sir, I seem to not be able to understand you." I gave him a sheepish smile.

The Turian looked at me skeptically and said something else it the chirping language of his.

"Nope, afraid I didn't catch that either, though it appears that you can understand me." At that he nodded. "Well then my good sir, maybe you could take me to get me outfitted with whatever you've got translating for you?"

He said something to the Turian to his left, and he ran off.

Then he pointed to his gun with is off hand.

"Am I armed?" I inquired.

A nod

"No, I am not." I slowly pulled back my trench coat to expose my hips, and turned to the side to show I didn't have a back holster.

He then looked pointedly at my ankles, so I slowly dropped to a crouch and lifted my legs of my pants to reveal the lack of a gun.

He nodded and then motioned for me to follow him and barked an order to the group of officers. I easily fell into step behind him.

xXxX xXxX

I had followed the C-sec officers to their interrogation room, which looked no different than any one you'd see on TV. I was now sitting in a quite comfortable chair waiting on the Turian to return with an omni-tool or something so I could actually understand his questions. Just as I was beginning to get impatient, he walked through the door and tossed a watch sized wristband, and mimed putting something on his wrist, and I followed suit. The tool beeped at me, and projected an image of a microphone, so I looked at the Turian, and asked, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this thing?" Just as the question left my mouth, the omni-tool beeped at me again, and the began to speak to me with words I could understand. It was asking if I could understand. Then there were two selections, yes or no. Obviously I picked yes. A slight buzz, then I heard a voice, with a very slight mechanical tinge to it from behind me.

"Well, can you understand me now?"

I turned to look at him. "Yes, I can. Now maybe you can answer my question? Where the hell am I?"

"If it's all the same to you, I'll be asking the questions here. What is your name?"

"John Winter."

"What planet are you from?"

Here I paused. How should I answer? Ah, I got it.

"Boletaria."

"How old are you?"

"Not really sure. Spent an ungodly amount of time floating in space after my planet was destroyed in a supernova. Probably 25,000 or so."

I could tell he was totally flabbergasted by my answer. I mean, I'd call bullshit on myself if I wasn't far older than that.

"That impossible. No human could live that long."

I cocked my head to the side and gave him a half-confused look.

"What's a human? If you mean my species then I'm not a human, I'm the last member of the Nephilim."

"So you are a member of an extinct species?"

"That is correct. I just happened to be the first of my people to exit orbit, heading towards our moon, when our star exploded, sending me hurtling through space, and obliterating my species. Thankfully I need no food, water, or air to survive. The after floating around in space for a few thousand years, I crash landed on a planet filled the remnants of a hyper advanced civilization and was able to find some sort of teleportation device. I activated it, and here I am."

"Do you really expect me to believe that load of bullshit? You look human, you sound human, even smell human. And John is a very human name to boot. Prove to me you're not a human, then I might be inclined to believe the rest of your story."

"Well do humans have wings?"

He shook his head. "And neither do you."

I activated Wings of a Demon, and with a dull thump, I suddenly did have wings.

" **WHAT THE FUCK? WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU HIDING THOSE THINGS?!"** He yelled in shock.

I laughed a little. "Subspace storage. Pocket dimension."

"…..Spirits. A First Contact scenario. Shit let me get my supervisor." And with that, he spun and ran out of the room with surprising speed.

'Well that's a thing that happened…. Now what?'

I decided to wait around until he came back, figuring that being known to the council races as the last member of a new species was more useful than being just another human face in the crowd. So I waited. And waited. After another hour of waiting the door opened, and 3 people walked in. 'Pretty sure those are the council.' I looked past them to see a few well armed and armored guards out side the door. Most definitely the council.

"So how may I be of service to the governing body of this space station?"

"You seem well informed for someone who claims to be the last member of a species who had no contact with any of the council races." The Asari observed.

I shrugged. "Not really that hard to guess. A member of three different species, in fancy clothes, with a heavily armed escort, coming to see the supposed new species? I'd have to be a fool to not know you were with the government."

The Salarian spoke up. "Interesting. Strong deductive reasoning skills. Took less than 3 seconds to deduce identity." Here he gave me a nod of approval. "Impressive."

I nodded back. "Well, what can I do for you?"

The Turian stepped forward and said, " This Council wishes to extend our condolences for the loss of your people. We also wish to extend an offer of membership to the council races for the Nephilim, and citizenship for you."

That was kind of unexpected. I didn't figure they extend an offer of citizenship so easily, or so soon. It was suspicious.

"What's the catch?"

"You will be required to undergo genetic testing for the purposes of records, in case anymore of your people survived and somehow are found. You will also be required to serve in the Turian military for a period of no less than 10 years, after that you will be no different from any other citizen. We will also give you a few months of funding to live amongst the people of the citadel in order to adjust to life among people. I was led to understand you have lived in total isolation for millennia. Even the stupidest of people would not expect any intelligent being to adjust well to being once again exposed to the rigors of society or the military so soon after so long in isolation. You will be given an omni-tool, with etiquette and light education programs loaded, pertaining to the race of the citadel, and basic history, and then be taken to a hotel for the next month. You will 2 weeks to familiarize yourself with how to behave in polite society, and our laws, and then you will have 2 day of genetic and medical testing, then you will be given 6 months to live amongst the citadel to re-adjust. Then you're to start basic training on the Turian home world of Palaven, where you will spend the next ten years serving. Any questions?"

"Just one. What year is it?"

The Asari councilor replied, "It is the year 2160."

'So, by 2171 at the latest I'll be free to go? That's not too bad. If I remember correctly, Mass Effect takes place in the early 2180s, so that will give me the better part of a decade to prepare. Maybe build some custom gun, build up funds, gain contacts. This all works out in my favor.' I looked up at the council.

"Alright, take me to my accommodations. I want to get started right away on learning what I need to know to survive here."

Th Asari councilwoman stepped forward. "Very well, I shall have one of our officers escort you to your hotel, where your omni-tool will be delivered first thing in the morning. Based on your similarities to humans, am I to assume that you are levo-amino based?" At this I gave a nod. "Good, we shall have some water and basic food delivered to you in a few hours. I am aware you don't require food or water, but I am assuming you can eat and drink. If not, then just leave it be. Tomorrow you will be given a bank account along with your omni-tool, and a few thousand credits to purchase what ever you need. We will also be assigning you an escort to accompany you for the next few weeks, both to act as a bodyguard and guide, but also to answer any questions you may have. It was a pleasure to meet you, and welcome to the citadel."

XxXx xXxX

I stepped through the door to my hotel room, and saw that it was a middle of the road hotel. Not super fancy, but not a roach motel either. The I turned to the officer who had escorted me here, and gave him a nod. "Thank you for the escort. Now if you will excuse me, I am quite tired for all the goings on today, so if you would leave me be?"

"Yeah, no problem. But first, I was given a data pad for you to read through. It's a few laws you need to know right off. Also, it has an extranet connection so you can look up anything you want to know until you get your omni-tool tomorrow. Ill be right outside you the door if you need anything, until 6 am, when I will be relived. You have a good night." And with those words spoken, he walked out of the door.

I wasn't really concerned with any laws really, so I just skimmed through, the began to do research to learn to be an engineer. I downloaded a book called Hacking for Dummies, and read it cover to cover, and the end it recommended a few more reference materials, which I also downloaded and read. Just I finished reading the last book there was knock at the door. I got up and answered it, and an officer was standing at the door.

"Hello, I've been sent to take you to buy some gear and clothes." Then he handed me an omni-tool. "put that on you dominate wrist, and get it set up. Ill be right outside, when you get that done, come get me and we will go get you some stuff."

"Okay. I'll get this set up and if I need any help I'll come get you." He nodded and leaned against the wall next to the door. Letting the door swing closed, I turned around and walked to the desk in the corner of the room, and sat down. Removing the translator, I replaced it with the omni-tool, and got to work setting it up.

XxXx xXxX

A Few Hours Later…

I had convinced the officer to take me directly to to an armory to get me a hard suit so I could get to work modifying and enchanting it. I cast an illusion over the store with the skill I gained from killing Gywndolin, and tossed a great number of sets of hard suits, barrier generators, even a few gun parts laying around. The I bought a cheap suit and left, programming the illusions to slowly fade away a few at a time so no one would connect me to it. Then we went to the grocery store, bout some groceries. The I when back to my room and spend some time playing with the hard suits, checking if they play nice with my Gamer abilities, and especially my wings, which they did.

'I'll have to wait until my 6 months of free time to breakout my enchanting gear and forge, so I can enchant this shit and add additional armor plating, after I see how effective enchanted titanite is at stopping mass effect rounds.'

Now all that's left is to learn how to hack, and wait for the testing they wanted to run, and then I'd starting really trying to prepare to stop the Reapers.

xXxXxX

Just a little plot bunny I've had hopping around mah noggin the last few weeks. Not the best of writing i know, but still.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer, I don't own anything except original content.

 _ **Author's note: there is an important distinction between Souls and souls. Souls are dropped by boss level characters and are John's method of leveling up and gaining new abilities. The souls with a little s are currency for buy levels and other things that will be revealed in this chapter**_

Also, I have started streaming on twitch. If you would like to support me as a creator, come follow me at KnightDragon2. I've also got a you tube channel under the same name. Currently doing a Mass Effect playthrough. Streaming Wednesday through Sunday Noon to 1ish cst for now, until hopefully I can get enough of a following to go full time. I work 12 hours a night, so that's the reason for the short stream. I'm thinking about maybe even doing some streams where I write a fanfic, and the audience can interact with me while I'm writing and give feedback and input on the story in real time for shits and giggles. So yeah, come check out the stream. I should be streaming on the day this is posted.

XxXxXxXx

I was about ready to turn the Citadel into a floating pile of slag.

' _Goddamn Salarians.'_

"For the last fucking time, I don't know how it works, just that it does. I focus on making them appear, and they pop out of my back, and the clothes I'm wearing automatically adjusts to them, and when I want them to go away, they do, and the clothes go back to normal. Now if you ask again, or poke my goddamn wings with that needle, I will turn you into a grease stain on the floor." I slowly ground out, ramping up my killer intent until it almost made the scientists in the room pass out. "Am I understood?"

One of the scientists had the wherewithal to nod. I let up on the killer intent, allowing them to relax. One of the braver amongst them walked up and shakily handed me a folder.

"Tests done. Genome sequenced. 85% identical to humans. Protheans known to have done genetic seeding to create more sapient life. Likelihood of humans having originated from your species high. But not important. Not provable, so not important. You are healthy. Also, biologically immortal. Telomeres show no signs of degradation. That is important. First evidence of true immortality being possible. Would like to study more, but you are uncooperative. So you are free to go."

I stood up, and began redressing myself as I walked out the door.

"Ahh, sweet freedom. Fucking squints. Poking and prodding and asking questions for 2 weeks." I adjusted my red trenchcoat, and checked my omni-tool for messages. There was one from the Council, giving me my ship out date, exactly 6 months to the day.

' _Gives me plenty of time to start getting things ready to take on the Reapers. First things first, need to find a buyer of precious metals.'_ I made a point to keep all the gold and silver I had pass into my possession over the years. Gamer-magpie syndrome. I took literally everything that wasn't nailed down, and a lot that was. _'If I was an illegal buyer of precious metals, where would I be. Ah, I got it!'_ All I had to do was find a C-sec officer.

XxXx xXxX

I had spoken to multiple C-sec officers and asked where a person new to the citadel should avoid if they wanted to stay away from the criminal elements. I got the same answer from each of them. The told me to stay from the markets of the Zakera Ward. So guess where I made a beeline to? I began to search the back alleys, looking for anyone suspicious looking. I rounder a corner and saw a turian accosting a small, homeless looking asari child. _'A duct rat? Maybe she'd be to one to talk to.'_ Just as I walked up to speak to the turian, he raised his hand to strike the child, but stopped in his tracks when I hit him with a concentrated dose of killing intent, causing him to pass out, crumpling like a puppet with its strings cut. I then kneeled down in front of the dumbfounded, frightened child.

"Hello little one. There is no need to be afraid."

She stood stock still, and stared at me uncomprehendingly.

"You cant understand me can you?"

She gave no response. I look at here arm and she had no omni-tool. So, using an illusion to cover the movement, I pulled the translator cuff out of my inventory, and the allowing the illusion to dissipate, I handed her the cuff, and mimed putting it on. She looked at me skeptically, then timidly put the cuff on, as if expecting it to harm her is some way, and her eyes lit up in understanding. She spoke a few words, then clicked the okay button to finishing setting it, and turned to me. I took the chance to speak to her.

"Hello there little one. Can you understand me now?" She nodded. "Good. Now then, what's you name little one? Mine's John." She answered me in a tiny, unsure voice.

"My name is Lana. Is that man going to be okay? I don't want to be blamed for hurting him."

"He is going to be fine Lana. Might need a change of pants, and will have nightmares for a while, but he's fine. Why don't we make ourselves scarce before he wakes up? Come on, I'll buy you something to eat." I extended my hand. She looked at me even more unsure, and more than a little frightened.

"I don't know. My sister went with a man once, and never came back. I don't want to disappear mister. I better not." She began to slowly back away, the fear evident is her eyes.

"I'll tell you what, how about you lead me to someplace to eat. That way I'm following you. Can't make you disappear if you are in the lead." She appeared to be thinking, and the turian began to groan. "Quickly now, he might wake up soon. I'll follow your lead." She nodded timidly, and began to walk away from the unconscious body, and I followed, easily keeping stride with her small body, and lead me to what seemed to be a sandwich shop. We walked in and the Asari behind the counter greeted us.

"Hello, and welcome to Citadel Subs. Home to the best subs on the Citadel. Ah hello there Lana. How's my favorite customer." She came around the counter and scooped a giggling Lana up in a hug.

"I'm good. It's nice to see you again sis. I haven't been able to get enough credits to come eat here in a long time."

"Really now? That's a shame. I missed seeing me favorite customer. So how did you scrounge up enough creds to come today." At this, Lana looked a little apprehensive.

"I didn't. That man offered to buy me lunch after he stopped a turian from hitting me."

The asari set Lana down, and walked over to me, and extended a hand. "Is that so? Well then, thank you for that. My name is Ansari."

I reached out and grabbed her hand, and she began to attempt to crush my hand with subtle application of biotic powers. I hit her with an Observe, and it showed she was a former Commando, and a good one at that. I cocked an eyebrow, but said, "It was no problem. I despise child abusers. My name is John." She looked slightly shocked that I didn't show any signs of pain, but then steeled herself and spoke.

"Excuse us for a moment Lana. I want to talk to John in private for a bit." Then she roughly grabbed my arm and drug me outside the shop, and shut the door. Then she rounded on me with anger in her eyes. "You stay away from her you sicko." Then tried to blast me with a Throw, but I side stepped, and got in too close for her to throw around more biotics, and grabbed her by the wrist, twisted her around, grabbed her shoulder, and slammed her against the wall of the store.

"What the fuck in wrong with you, you crazy bitch? Tossing around biotics for no reason? What the fuck?"

Ansari let out a burst of biotic power, not much, but enough to force me off of her. Then she whirled around and caught me flatfooted with a stasis. "All you men are the same. You were going to kidnap her and sell her or keep her for your own pleasure. She already lost her mother and sister to sick bastards like you. I won't let you take her too." She prepared a biotic lance, waiting out the stasis, but before it could wear off, I flexed my mana, and shattered the stasis field, the rushed in close before she could react. With a bit of a grunt of effort, I lodged my fist in her stomach hard enough I could feel her spine, launched her against the wall, then whipped out a talisman and cast Vow of Silence, preventing her from using anymore of her biotics, since The Game considered them spells. I walked over to her kneeling, gagging form, and gave her the mother of all bitch-slaps.

"You psychotic bitch. I've given you no reason to assume I was after her to kidnap her, or keep her as a sex slave. If I was going to do so, I'd have done it when I saved her from the turian, and you'd have never known. If you didn't seem important to that little girl, I'd kill you where you stand. Now we are going to wait for you to recover, then I am going to explain to you why I offered to buy her lunch, then we are going to go back in there, and you are going to make us lunch. Understood?" She gave a weak nod. "Good." So, we sat in tense silence until she had recovered enough to speak. "Now, the reason I saved her from the Turian is because I despise child abusers more than anything. And the reason I offered to buy her lunch was so I could ask her a few questions, after getting her comfortable enough to answer them. I've heard that the homeless children on this station are some of the best informants there are. So, I figured if she didn't have the answers I needed, she'd know someone who did. I'm looking to sell some stuff for some untraceable liquid assets."

She took a deep breath, and winced in pain. "So, you…*gasp* are looking for a fence. Well *wheeze* its your lucky day. By the Goddess, you hit like a mass impactor round from an IFV. Anyway, I happen to know the best fence on the citadel. She comes here to eat every day." She stood up shakily, and walked slowly back over to her sub shop, then motioned me over. Come on, the food is on the house as an apology for what just happened… I'm pretty sure you fractured a rib by the way. Also, may have knocked a tooth loose"

I simply shrugged, and said, "You won't get any sympathy from me. You're the one that assaulted me for no good reason. That's what happens when you play with fire. You get burned. Now, I want your biggest meatball marinara sub. Pronto. And put in a call to your fence friend. I want to get this money in my pocket. I've got a plan that requires a large amount of liquid funds."

XxXx xXxX

I walked out of the sub shop, and few hundred thousand credits richer, with a plan to meet at the ship yard so I could sell the fence the rest of my gold and silver, and act like I had it offloaded off a ship. I ended up giving Lana enough to go buy an omni-tool and told to keep in contact with me. It would be invaluable to have one of the duct rats on speed dial. My next stop was to one Barla Von. I wanted to get all those credits working for me right away, and as far as I could find on the extranet, he was in operation at this point, and just as good of a banker as he was in the time of ME1, just not nearly as well known. I'd found his shop, just down from Chora's Den, and walked in. It was fairly plan, with nice light blue walls, and a few potted plants scattered around the small lobby. In the back was an office with no windows, but an open door. Over all, it was a quaint, unassuming place. Perfect for a less than legal banker to do business in. Just as I finished taking in the room, a short round creature in black and white envirosuit stepped out of the back office, and spoke to me in a halting, wheezing voice.

"Hello, and welcome to my humble bank. My name is Barla Von. How may I help you today?"

"Good evening. I'm looking to do some investments with as little paper trail as possible. They say on the net that you are the best there is at what you do." I dropped a sack full of credit chits on the table. "So let's talk business."

XxXx xXxX

' _That volus is going to make me a killing.'_

I'd spent a couple of hours taking shop with Barla Von. I'd decided to use my Council identity with my investments against my better judgement, simply for ease of use. I don't want to try to keep track of all my separate identities. But luckily, with Barla Von's skills at creative paperworking, the council would never know I had come up with the kind of creds I was tossing around. He was getting a 25% commission on my interest, but I wasn't too worried. After all, the higher his commission, the more he'd be motivated to do better. I might have also subtly threated him with pain beyond imagining if he betrayed me, but I'm sure that wasn't really necessary. Afterall, a man like him, his reputation is everything. I instructed him to begin building capitol first, then once he had a large enough amount, he was to begin buying large amounts of stock in shipyards, military manufacture, and mining operation. I'd also told him that in 3 months I was going to be bringing in some more money, and that the first thing I wanted was a controlling interest in a large capacity shipyard, and in a large-scale mining operation. And after hashing out all the terms of the investments and setting up a bank account for my money to be deposited in, I left the bank, and decided to head back to my apartment that I had rented, and begin the process of enchanting my heavy hardsuit, and putting some enchanted titanite plating on it, and adjusting my coat to fit over it, cause the bloodred dragon hide trench coat looked too badass not to wear. I also needed to figure out how to integrate the bone white mask I created from Pinwheel's masks, that I named A Family Legacy, into a helmet that also wouldn't require I cut my long hair. Since I had a poison immunity skill I had gained from The One Reborn, and the Gamer's Body meant I didn't need to breathe, I really didn't need the helmet to seal or anything, so the easiest thing to do would be to just cut the back out to make room for my low ponytail, and replace the glass with A Family Legacy. So I started modifying my gear, giving me faster movement speed, more physical defense, and more carry weight. After about 5 hours of enchanting, I decided to actually sleep for once to pass some time.

XxXx xXxX

 _ **The Game has updated. Would you like to see changelog?**_

' _Well this is new. I've never had an update before.'_ I mentally shrugged and hit the yes button.

 **As you have leapt to a new world in which you cannot gain Souls, you now have access to the Instant Dungeon skill. Bosses in Instant Dungeons will drop souls.**

 **As you have leapt to a world in which teamwork is important, you gain access to the Party system. Invite people to party using vocal command Invite (persons name) to (party name). Party members gain access to inventory, and stats page, but not the Gamer's Mind or Body.**

 **As you have started the steps to start a guild, you gain access to the Guild menu. You can upgrade your guild using souls.**

 **Enemies will now drop loot that will be invisible to anyone not in your party.**

 **End Changelog.**

' _Wow. Some useful shit right there. A guild, a party and Instant Dungeons? Damn, and loot drops too? This is going to make my life a lot easier.'_

I rolled out of bed and got dressed, putting on my Hunter set, minus hat and mask, and set out to find the Citadel library. I had three months to kill, and not much to do. Until Varla Bon started buying a shipyard, all I could do was wait, and research. I wanted to be as good an engineer and techhead as possible in the short amount of free time I had before I shipped out to Palaven. It was time I put that insane Intelligence score to use.

XxXx xXxX

 _ **3 months later at the shipyard**_

I stood in front of a pile of gold and silver bars on pallets, dressed in my modified Onyx X hard suit, my red dragonhide trench coat over it, and the bone white faceplate I created using A Family Legacy down. All in all, dressed as I was in black, red and white, I cut an intimidating figure, to say nothing of the twin Washing Poles I had strapped across my back, the sheaths modified to allow for easy drawing, and the Dark Drift sheathed at my waist for my Iaijutsu I gained from Sir Alonne. Each had been lightning infused to slice through hardsuits and shields alike, the lightning disrupting the shields, and the sheer cutting power of the blade itself making short work of hardsuits. I made sure to test my weapons over the last month or so on various hardsuits I'd… acquired, and lightning infused katanas were the best at slicing through most shields and suits. The fence I had arranged to sell the remainder of my gold to showed up exactly on time. With a contingent to Eclipse mercenaries. _'So fucking predictable.'_ I let out a large sigh.

"I don't suppose those mercs are here to help you transport the metals after you pay me for them are they? Cause I really don't want to spend the next 4 hours cleaning the blood off of my armor." The Asari woman began to laugh.

"They are indeed. Well, except for the 'after I pay you' bit. I'm going to just kill you and take the gold. Simple as that." She turned to look at the krogan in charge of the group of mercs. "Kill him."

I let out another weary sigh. "I was hoping to be here longer than 6 months before I had to draw blood, but I guess that wasn't meant to be." I drew my Washing poles, and dropped into a low stance, both blades held in a reverse grip, the spine of the blade resting against my arm. "Very well then. Please, at least make this fun. Flash Step." I dropped into a creation of mine, a skill derived from the Lightning Manipulation I gained from killing Ornstein and evolved by killing superSmough. Essentially, I flooded my body with electricity, increasing my speed, reflexes, and strength. Kind of like Kilua's GodSpeed from HunterxHunter. I didn't really need it to kill these scrubs, but suddenly being engulfed in blood red arcs of electricity was badass, and stupidly intimidating. It was a good thing I already cloaked the area with an illusion. No one would see this, and no one would know anything more than absolutely necessary about what I could really do.

As I dropped into Flash Step, I vanished from sight, and reappeared, sliding to a halt just behind 4 of the 6 mercs the bitch had brought. They crumpled to the floor, sliced in half. Then before anyone could process what had happened, I lashed out with a side kick, and removed a salarian's head, causing it to smack the fence in the face, knocking her out. Then I turned to the frozen krogan and rammed a blade through his skull, dropping him instantly. _'Damnit. I hope I'll be able to find a challenge in this universe. Ugh, I hope it won't just be Reapers that can but up a fight.'_ With a practiced flick, I cleaned all the blood off my swords and returned them to their sheaths, casting Repair and Refresh as I did so, purely out of habit. I looted the corpses, tossing salvageable armor, weapons and omni-tools in my inventory, and piled the bodies up. Then I drew Dark Drift, and walked over to the Asari's unconscious form, and cast another Refresh to wake her up. She bolted upright with a start, but froze when she felt the coldness of my invisible sword against her neck. She slowly turned her head, eyes wide with fear.

"W-w-what the fuck are you?"

"Honey, I'll be asking the questions here. Tell me, did you bring the creds you were supposed to pay me?" She shook her head. "That's a shame. Is the money in your account?" Here she nodded. "Good. Here is what is going to happen. I am going to call my banker. You are going to give him all your information. He is going to transfer all of your assets into my name. Your money, your businesses, your home, and your ship if you have one. Everything you own will be mine. Then you are going to give me the location of every stash you have. All of your safehouses. EVERYTHING. The once I am sure I've left you penniless and destitute, then I will consider allowing you leave alive. By the way, don't bother asking Varla Bon for help. I told him beforehand that you were probably going to try to kill me to take the gold. So he is just going to ignore your cries for help." She began sobbing.

"Please, no. I've worked for centuries to gather what I have. It is my life work. Please. I'm begging you."

I scoffed. "Well, you should have thought of that before you tried to have me killed. You reap what you sow, as they say." Then I dialed up Varla Bon.

"Hello, this is Varla Bon. How may I help you?"

"Are you secure? This is John Winter."

"Ah, hello John. Yes, I am secure. Is this about the gold?"

"It is indeed. I have the dumb bitch right here. And she is going to give you everything you need to take everything she owns and put it in my name. For 25% off the top for you of course." I lowered the omni-tool to the nameless fences face. "Begin talking. Every time you lie, I rip off one of your crest tenticles." She let out a heart broken sob, and began to talk.

XxXx xXxX

I tossed the lifeless, naked Asari onto the pile bodies, then cast a Forbidden Sun, turning the mercs to ash, then I swept up the ash into my inventory, and cast Repair on the burn spot, leaving no trace of the carnage that had occurred here.

"Well, what all did I make off with?" I asked Varla Bon over the omni-tool, and I began to put all of my metals back in my inventory. He let out a creepy chuckle.

"My friend, you are now Twenty million credits richer, the proud owner of two apartment on Illium, a large condominium here on the Citadel, and a Turian frigate, retrofitted with functional weapons, and redesigned to be operated by a single person with the help of an advanced VI. This Asari had some serious capitol laying around to get a frigate modified like that. You stumbled on a veritable gold mine. With this much money, I can buy a controlling interest in a good sized shipyard, and well as beginning to buy stock in a mining conglomerate. I project all of your projects will be finished within the next 5 years at the latest."

"That's excellent news my friend. As soon as you acquire the shipyard, have one of the drydocks begin manufacturing liveships, and one start on making military ships for my personal use. Corvettes, frigates and crusiers. Get that started after you buy a mining conglomerate, and use a percentage of the profits and materials to fund the liveships and military crafts. See if you can find an uncharted system to buy the rights to. Maybe make it a Nephilim colony?" There was silence on the other end for a moment. Then he spoke hesitantly.

"So, you want to have an official colony and military to defend it right? And I assume you want the liveships and military crafts to be stored in your system until you finish your deployment? And possibly mine the less habitable planets in the system?" I thought about it for a moment. It sounded like a very good idea. I could essentially start a mercenary crew and call it an official military, allowing me to possess dreadnoughts.

"Yes to all of that. And see how many dreadnaughts I am allowed to possess as a species. Also try to start negotiations with the Quarians. I want to trade liveships in exchange for them crewing my military vessels. Maybe allow them to settle on the planet where we store the ships. Oh, and try to get a skeleton crew together once production ramps up to move the ships planetside, and to keep the ships in running order until I finish my deployment. You can trade a few liveships in exchange for the skeleton crew if need be, but try to get them to do it in exchange for settling on the planet. That's the best option." Another silence on the other end. Then Varla Bon spoke with no small amount of awe in his voice.

"That is… utterly _brilliant!_ Trading something that will cost you little to nothing for the services of a species well know to be some of the best ship mechanics in the galaxy? Simply brilliant. Of course, you will have to pay the crews out of pocket, but once I get the businesses under your name you've asked for, you will have plenty of money to spare. We can even build new manufacturing plants on whatever planet you 'colonize', and offer the jobs to quarians, offering them pay, plus one day per work week to build some things they need to fix their liveships."

"Varla Bon, you just earned yourself a raise. Take an extra 5% commission. Well done. Now if you would, please send me the location of my homes and my ship. I want to check them out."

"Thank you for your generosity. This is the beginning of a beautiful partnership. Sending the locations now. Have a good day, and I'll contact you again when I have an update." There was a click and the line went dead.

' _By the time this is all said and done, we might stand a chance against the Reapers. Here's hoping I can keep my new home from being turned into a galaxy full of ash and corpses.'_ I looked at the message I received, and the location of my new ship just so happened to be in the same dock I was currently in. The dock number was listed as F26. Low and behold, dock F26 was just around the corner. As I turned the corner, I glimpsed the most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen. The frigate was shaped like it was supposed to be a space Lamborghini. It looked good all things considered. But the ridiculous thing was the paint scheme.

 _Bright pink and lime green._

' _Before I do anything, this motherfucker is getting painted. Black with red highlights.'_ I searched for a good paint shop for large vessels, and called them up to give me a quote. The said it would be done in a week. I tripled the money and told them they had 3 days.

XxXx xXxX

 _ **3 days later…**_

She was now a masterpiece. Black and red was such an awesome color scheme. So, with the ship finally ready, I stepped on board. The VI piped up with a distinctly feminine voice.

"Welcome aboard. This is the Girlpo-"

"Yeah, gonna stop you there. Rename the ship to the NSV Priscilla. Update all logs and send a message to the dock authorities. This ship is now known as the NSV Priscilla."

"As you command. Welcome aboard the NSV Priscilla. I am your onboard SOVI. Ship Operations Virtual Intelligence. Uploading ship data to your omni-tool."

"Thank you." I began looking over the specs for the ship. It wasn't much, but there were a few GAURDIAN turrets, a couple of Javelin missile pods, and a main mass accelerator cannon. Not enough to go toe to toe with a military vessel, but any pirates I encountered were toast. It had a decent sized cargo bay, which the manifest said was full… of… precious metals.

' _Holy shit!_ _Now I got this stuff semi-legally, I can add my personal stash to it, and sell it off without having somebody wonder where it came from. Money is falling from the sky at this point. It's like I'm the MC in a badly written fanfic at this point.'_

 **For discover…**

I swiped away the notification, ignoring the gain in Wisdom, and promptly repressed the memory. _VICIOUSLY.'_

I called Varla Bon up, and asked for a place to offload them, which he promptly sent me, and I sold all of the metals, netting me another 40 mil, which I promptly sent all but 5 mil of to my account with Varla Bon. Then I set about turning the cargo bay into a forge and armory. With the technology of this universe I could make a flameless forge using induction heating to get the metals to precise temperatures, making forging that much easier. I ordered the parts I needed to build the forge, and all the armor stands and weapon racks I wanted to build, and had them delivered. Thankfully it only took an hour to get them, so I didn't have to wait long. I quickly built a number of armor stands, shield racks and weapon plaques. I started to set up the bay as just a display for some of my cooler gear, when I scrolled across a folder in my inventory called 'A few precious things.' The sight of that folder that I deliberately forgot about so many years ago made me decide to set it up as a shrine for the friends I had made on that godforsaken rock.

Havel the Rock. His armor on a stand, the Dragon Tooth and his shield resting to the left and right of the armor respectively. I had saved him from his hollowing by force feeding him humanity, and he became a valuable ally, and close friend, until he fell at the hands of Gwyn in the Kiln, the cursed first flame burning him to ash, dieing his final death, leaving behind only his weapon and armor.

Solaire of Astora. His iron armor polished to a shine, the shield bearing the Crest of the Sun to the right, and the Sunlight Straight sword on the wall behind. Solare had been my staunchest ally, a powerful warrior, and my best friend. Until I had to kill Gwyndolin, and it was revealed that his precious Sun was naught but an illusion. Unable to deal with his life's goal, his symbol of hope, his item of worship was just a fake, he committed suicide by jumping into the abyss, his soul consumed by the darkness.

The faithful Onion Knights Seigmeyer and Seigward. Represented by a single set of Catarina armor, with the zweihandr of Seigmire on the left and Seigward's on the right. The onionbros had the least tragic ends of all of the people I had grown to know. Seigmire had passed peacefully in his sleep once the curse receded after the linking of the flame. He left his armor to his daughter, and his blade to me. Seigward just let go after we put Yorhm to rest. It was his armor that rested on the stand.

Artorias of the Abyss and his faithful companion Sif. His corroded, corrupted armor standing next to a pristine copy I had forged my self, each with a matching sword and shield hanging above. I didn't know Artorias, he was to far gone by the time I got to him to save. But I did convince Sif to travel with me. To put an end to the Abyss and ensure Artorias' sacrifice wasn't in vain. Many a night was spent around the bonfire, Sif, Havel, Solare, Seigmire and myself enjoying fellowship, food and laughter. The great grey wolf had drug me out of the jaws of defeat more times than I cared to count in those early days of my journey. Then he was killed by Seeth the Betrayer. A mistimed jump, and a spike of crystal brought an end to the magnificent creature. The only consolation to be had, was that Seeth _suffered_ before he was allowed to die. We had not yet destroyed the crystal that anchored him to life, and so, Havel, Solaire and I, enraged at the death of our companion, literally tore Seeth a new asshole. Several of them. _Painfully._ It was only when our rage began to give way to sadness, did we end the foul beast.

And in the center of the back wall of the room, was a large display case, floor to ceiling, holding things even more precious to me than the armor and weapons of my closest friends. There were two crystallized souls. A dagger. An ancient feather. A blindfold. A black choker. An old ring. And a necklace made of the teeth of a very large wolf. I placed my hand over one of the souls, and a long howl of a lone wolf echoed in the back of my mind. Then I moved my hand over the second soul, and the comforting chill of an artic wind settled over me.

And lastly, in the center of the former cargo bay, stood a black, five sided granite obelisk. Each one would soon have some of the words of the five most important women in my past carved into the stone. The women I grew to love, but were taken from me far too soon. The words would be immortalized by the stone. Never to be forgotten.

But that would have to wait for a while. I needed to learn how to fly this thing. So I made my way to the cockpit, and sat in the pilot's chair.

Ping!

 **You have equipped a piece of Legendary Soulbound gear.**

 **NSV Priscilla**

 **A ship of great importance to its owner, it holds a shrine to his past. Comes with an onboard SOVI. Soulbound on equip.**

 **Soulbound gear**

 **Gear that has become part of your soul, it can neither be stolen nor permanently destroyed. Should it be destroyed, just wait 24 hours, and it can be re-summoned just as it is now. Any Soulbound vehicle will no longer require conventional fuel, but will be fueled with your mana. The knowledge require to operate the vehicle will be implanted into your mind. They can also be controlled mentally. They can also be upgraded using souls through the through the drop down tab in the equipped menu.**

' _That is very convenient…'_ I shrugged. _'Well, mama always said never look a gift horse in the mouth.'_ I thought about taking her out for a shakedown run, but I decide to put that off for another day, and went to go clean out some stashes and check out my new condo.

XxXxXxXxX

Thanks for reading the newest chapter of Effect of a Gamer's souls. Remember, come follow me on twitch at KnighDragon2


	3. Chapter 3

I own nothing except for original content.

 **To answer the reviewer who told me to remove Nephilim from my story, not gonna happen. It affects nothing. It was an ass pull by a character under a little pressure. He needed a name to call his species, and that was the first thing he thought of.**

 **Also, sorry for all the time skips. Kind of necessary for a series like Mass Effect, especially when most of the time skipped over has nothing narratively important other than 'time passes and stuff gets done.' Next chapter begins the storylines of the games.**

 **Also I apologize for the long wait and short chapter. Life has a way of getting in the way. 60+ hours a week at work kind of drains all free time and energy.**

 **XxXxXxX**

I stood on the balcony of my swanky apartment on the Citadel, reading over my latest report form Varla Bon. The Winter Group had rapidly expanded with all the cash I had tossed at it, and currently included six mining conglomerates, three major shipyards, and one military manufacturing complex, and was currently in talks to acquire a system or two as colonies of the Nephilim. The Quarians were still talking over my offer to make them a client species, and to give them a world to grow their food on until they were able to adjust to living on planet rather than on ships. One liveship was halfway through production, and my first mil-spec cruiser was just starting. My take of the proceeds the company was making was only 10%. Everything else going either to pay Varla Bon or being funneled back into the company. Just as I finished reading the report, there was a knock on my front door. I didn't need to be a rocket surgeon to know who it was. It had been six months to the day since I escaped the fucking salarian scientists.

"Well its time for me to go complete my tour of duty."

I clicked a few buttons on my omni-tool, and activated the alarm system, then stepped out the door. Standing just down the hall were three Turian soldiers. I nodded, and they turned and marched away, and I fell into step behind them.

XxXxXxX

 _ **10 years later. 2172**_

I sat in the Pricilla's newly added armory, currently waiting on the last part of my custom designed high caliber sniper rifle/heavy machine gun to be flash forged, making use of the 30 minute wait to read Varla Bon's newest report on the Winter Group. I was the owner of no less than 5 space stations, orbiting one of 3 garden worlds I had "colonized", two dozen dreadnaughts, 10 supercarriers, 20 carriers, 50 heavy cruisers, 20 stealth frigates, and the crown jewel of my fleet, my superdreadnaught. The NSV Abysswalker was a monster of a ship. Her main gun could rip right through any dreadnaught in the galaxy with ease. She had a proprietary shielding that was based on what I could remember of the Cyclonic shields from the Normandy. There were enough GAURDIAN turrets that she could face tank a battlegroup's missile barrage no problem. And she possessed enough Javelin missile pods to wipe out that same battle group. To say nothing of her own battle group. Two supercarriers, four carriers, 10 heavy cruisers, and four stealth frigates. Granted, none of the ships were fully functional at the moment, only being crewed by just enough to keep them working, and not much more. But I had a plan to fill out the rest of the crews, and bring them up to full battle capacity. That's why I was currently gearing up for a firefight, while my SOVI was navigating the ship on a course for an uncharted world called Feros.

Just as I finished reading the report, the flashforge dinged at me, and spit out the last part of the shaving block and heatsink hotswap modification, allowing me to put in a new shaving block once the one I was using ran out of material or drop out the heatsink and replace it, should it get too hot to continue firing. Currently I could get 4000 rounds of HMG fire or 400 rounds of sniper fire out of a single block. And with my illusions and inventory, it was no issue to keep dozens of the blocks with me at all times. So I slotted in the final piece, then tossed it in my inventory, and equipped it, then checked the fit of the large backpack that housed the mass effect drive that powered the weapon, as well as the cooling mechanism, allowing me to essentially have unlimited fire as long as a shaving block held out, and easily switch out a heatsink should I fire continuously for long enough to overwhelm the external cooling pack. I'd spent the last 10 years off and on tweaking and prototyping the design on my leave time, and was confident this was the final iteration. I finished adjusting the fit, and SOVI came over the intercom.

"Ten minutes to Feros."

"Good. Once we get in atmo, run a scan for any large non-organic structures. Find the nearest group, and fly low in a search pattern Scan for active aqueducts. Then alert me, and land nearby."

"Affirmative Captain."

I gave the backpack of my new monstrosity of a weapon, that I dubbed the Devastator, a good tug to make sure it was firmly in place, and then equipped the other 4 weapons I intended to take with me. A pair of heavily modified Carnifex handcannons on my hips, a beefed up Krogan Claymore shotgun attached to the underside of the pack of the Devastator, and a Mattock modified to shoot full auto clipped to the right side of the pack, all with the swappable heat sinks and shaving blocks. Then I pulled on my Ascended Pyromancy glove, and stuck a sheathed Blue Flame catalyst/dagger to a magnetic attachment point on my thigh. Then I pulled my helmet on, the white faceplate standing out against the black of the helmet. Finally, I attached the business end of the Devastator to the magclips on the left side of the pack. I scrolled through my inventory to make sure I had some incendiary and sedative gas grenades. And so, with all my preparations done, I made my way to the cockpit. Just as the doors slid open on the elevator, SOVI spoke up again.

"Captain, scans have revealed an abandon city with multiple towers, and a functioning aqueduct system. There also appears to be approximately 5 Turians walking along the ducts, doing maintenance. Scans also detect multiple moving plants deeper in the ducts. Do you still wish to land?"

' _Man, am I glad I upgraded her scanners, and upgraded SOVI to an AI. The upgrading with souls is so convenient.'_

"Yes, put us down a klick from the location of the Turians. Once I get on the ground, fly in a holding pattern, and prepare to call in the fleet for the Parkinglot Protocol. There is a being down there that could end all life as we know it."

"Affirmative. I have put an alert through to the Abysswalker battle group to prepare to be mobilized."

"Thank you." Just after that, I felt an ever so slight jolt as we touched down, and opened the air lock doors. I painted the location of the turians SOVI had detected, and set off at a light jog. Of course, a light jog for me was faster than most beings could sprint, so I made the trip in no time flat. I slowed down just as I got to my destination, and spoke to one of the Turians, who had completely ignored me.

"I would like an audience with the Thorian."

The mind controlled Turians froze for a split-second, then spoke as one single monotonous voice.

"Why do you wish to speak to me?"

' _Damn, that's fucking creepy as hell.'_

"I have a proposition for you. I need crew for my fleet, and you need protection. Someone will discover you, and kill you to keep a being with mind control powers from existing. So, you use your creepers to man my ships, and Ferros will be under my protection. We will keep up the aqueduct feeding you water, cultivate biomass for you to feed on, and teach you what you wish to learn, on top of how to operate my fleet."

There was silence for a moment. Then, "You would risk a being capable of mind control being given access to starships? You must be desperate."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's about the size of it. There is a race of sentient machines coming to wipe out all Intelligent life in the galaxy, including you. I'm attempting to build a fleet to combat them, or at least slow them down a bit, to give us all a shot at surviving. And as for your mind control powers, I'm not really worried. All current members of my military are Quarian. They live in sealed enviro-suits. No spores getting in there. And I'm immune to mental effects. And my ships are equipped with an advanced VI. It will lock out any unauthorized persons from interfacing with controls. So yeah, you are far more valuable alive, and working with me, then dead or against us. We can teach you how to operate the defense systems of our ships, how to do repairs, and everything else you need to know to be a functional part of my military. Then once you've got a handle on that, you can help drastically decrease production time on my superdreadnaught fleets. I'll put all my quarian shipbuilders on the "day shift," and you can take over the "night shift". If you can help me get ten more superdreadnaughts built in the next 8 years, then we might stand a chance against the Reapers. You help me, you get to live for as long as possible. But, turn me down, and I will turn this planet into a glass parkinglot. You are powerful. Immensely so. Should you fall into the Reaper's hands, you could cause untold devastation. I can't take that risk. Help me, or die. Those are your options. You have 1 hour to decide."

The enslaved turians began to metaphorically bristle, and became visibly enraged. "You DARE threaten ME? I have survived on this planet undetected for millions of years. I have seen the rise and fall of dozens of civilizations, and consumed all who stood before me. You are an insignificant insect before me, nothing but a speck of dust. What makes you think you could pose a threat to me? On this planet, I AM GOD!"

I shook my head. I had hoped it would be a bit easier to convince it to join me, but also, it seems that a bit of intimidation would be necessary. So I began to flare my Killing Intent, and Malefic Aura, along with activating my Flash Step, simply for aesthetics. A black, writhing miasma began to creep up my body slowly the sporadic red lighting of my Flash Step adding an unnatural ambiance to the sight. Then a wave of pure Intent to murder hit the turians, causing them to become visibly afraid, even through the mind control. Then I spoke in a even tone. "A God? Don't make me laugh. You are no god. I have faced beings with more power in one finger than you possess in your entirety. And killed them with my bare hands. You are nothing. It would take only moment for me to end you. I wouldn't even be slightly winded after killing you. As a matter of fact, I could have bombarded this planet with out ever stepping foot here, but I decided to offer you a chance to live a life in the open, one where you didn't have to stay hidden for your own protection." I let my KI and Malefic Aura dissipate. "Now, are you in or out?"

The slaved turians relaxed, and then were silent for a few moments. "Very well. I accept."

I nodded, glad I didn't have to take another life pointlessly. "Good. I'll send over the Abysswalker, and have them pick up a few creepers, along with a spawning pod and one of your neural nodes. Then they can start teaching you."

"I shall await your people. Now please, leave me. I must rest."

I nodded, then called SOVI to pick me up, and sent a message to the Abysswalker battle group with my plans for them.

XxXx xXxX

 _ **10 years later. The closing days of 2182.**_

I was reading the scouting reports from my stealth frigates. The Geth were being seen more and more in the Terminus Systems. The batarians were becoming more and more aggressive. The turians were ramping up production of military ships. Apparently my fleet of 20 Abysswalker class Superdreadnaughts had scared the brass on Palaven into increasing their military. I even sold them the cyclonic shield tech for their ships.

"Good. Everything is in order." I closed out all my reports, then spoke to SOVI. "SOVI, set a course for Eden Prime. And send a message to the R&D on Ferros. Ask for an update on Project Newton."

"Course set Captain. ETA 4 hours. Message sent. The R&D team has sent a reply. Report will be compiled in 2 hours and forwarded to me. I will let you know when I receive the report. Relay Jump in 5….4….3….2….1. Jump initiated." I felt a slight jolt as the Priscilla rapidly accelerated to FTL speeds, before the inertial dampeners kicked in. "Jump successful. Drift negligible."

I thanked her, then went down to my forge and changed into my smithing clothes, which were a simple pair of leather bracers on my wrists, nondescript leather pants, and a leather band around my forehead whose sole purpose was to protect my hair from the heat. Embarrassingly, I'd become almost as attached to my hair as a certain buxom blonde brawler. Poor Sir Alonne had nicked my hair after I botched a dodge. And you know how pyromancy is linked to emotions? Well I may or may not have cast a Forbidden Sun powerful enough to turn his arena into a crater. Poor bastard was incinerated instantly. But I digress. I turned on my induction forge, and pulled two almost finished swords out of my inventory. They were a pair of beautifully curved 7 foot long katanas, forged from an alloy of titanium, tungsten and lightning infused titanite. Both blades were only lacking their edges and hilts(A/N can't remember the proper term, and to lazy to look it up). I had spent the last 6 months or so practicing forging monomolecular edges with this alloy, and I had finally perfected the craft a week ago, and intended to finish these blades today. I had already finished all the individual pieces of the blades, so all I had to do was forge down the edges, quench them in my unique quenching fluid, a combination of dragon, demon, and god blood, and put the things together. I picked up the first blade, and ran it through the coil of the forge and cast Observe on it. Conveniently, Observe could tell me even the temperature of an object ever since I had maxed it out. I allowed the blade to heat up to the optimal temperature, and then pulled Andre's Hammer out of my inventory, and began to forge.

XxXx xXxX

 _ **2 hours later**_

It hadn't taken quite as long as I thought to finish the blades, and I even had time to adjust the pack of the Devestator to hold the blades and allow me to draw the massively long swords quite easily. All I had to do was grab the hilt, and the pack would release the blades from their slotted magnetic sheaths, allowing me to have the blades at the ready with a simple flourish. I spent a few minutes repeatedly drawing and sheathing the blades until it had become a thoughtless action. I then set all my gear to a preset, and then went to the bridge to check on our progress.

"Captain, I just received the report from Ferros R&D. Forwarding to your omnitool."

My omnitool then gave a ding as I received the report, and I Immediately opened it, and gave it a read.

' _Project Newton is greenlit. It passed all testing procedures. Good.'_

"SOVI, send a message back. Tell them to begin production on a model for the Priscilla, the retro fit all of my vessels, begging with the Reaper Response battlegroup. Then I want all the Superdreadnaughts and liveships outfited. Send schematics to all production facilities, and have all production shift focus. I want all ships in my fleet retrofitted by the end of next year."

"Message sent, Captain. ETA to Eden Prime, 1 hour and 24 minutes."

I nodded. "Thank you SOVI. I'm going to get all the necessary immigration paperwork filled out, and get a house purchased. When we arrive, alert me, and follow all docking procedures."

XxXx xXxX

 **1 month later.**

I had just walked through the door of my home after I returned to Eden Prime from a trip to Feros to have Project Newton installed on the Priscilla, and taken her on a shake down run, when I heard the tell-tale sound of a Reaper entering the atmosphere rang out, loud and clear. Like Gabriel's Trumpet sounding the end of days. I smiled a smile that I'm sure would have sent anyone same running for the hills, and hit my preset for my combat gear, and drew my custom Carnifex handcannons, and took off at high speed towards the location of the spaceport.

"Finally, the real fun begins!"


	4. Chapter 4

I own nothing but original content.

 **Gonna skip most of the introductions and get straight to the action.**

 **XxXx xXxX**

I dashed across the open fields toward the sound of gunfire and screams, moving faster than the eye could see, my heavy footfalls leaving dents in the dense earth. I felt more alive than I had in decades. It had been a long time since I had the opportunity to open up, to just _run._ My bloodthirst was quickly tempered by the joy I felt. I smiled a joyous grin as I ran, the wind whipping by feeling like an old friend. But even my joyful smile was quickly replaced by a resigned frown as I topped a hill and saw hundreds of geth, marching towards the next town on their war path to the excavation site. I sighed. More innocent beings I had to kill. More enemies arrayed against me through no fault of their own. More blood I had to spill. Well, them being geth, the blood was metaphorical, but still, I would be ending the lives of dozens today. Dozens of brainwashed innocents. But it still had to be done. After all, I've never been one to shy away from the necessary.

I slid to a halt, my feet digging long furrows in the ground, and I crouched low, legs coiled for a powerful jump.

"Flashstep, level 2."

Thick arcs of carmine lightning danced around my body, and then I vanished with a pop of displaced air and the sound of shattering earth, then reappeared in the center of the ranks of marching geth, and loosed all 24 shots my pistols could fire before over heating, each bullet piercing the headlamp of one of the foot soldier variants, and then I vanished again, this time appearing in the air above a colossus. I came down on its skull with a falling axe kick, cratering it, and ending its life. I holstered my pistols, and grabbed the carcass, the flung it at a nearby armature, causing both to explode violently, and taking out a surrounding group. Finally, the geth were able to get a bead on me and began to fire, accelerator rounds, plasma bolts and rockets rushing past, as I rushed a rocket trooper and slammed a vicious elbow strike into its head, separating it from the body, and sending it into the distance, and following up with a spin kick, launching the now headless trooper into a second, destroying both. A few rounds pinged off of my kinetic barrier, so I spun, and inhaled deeply, preparing to launch a wave of dragon fire, but thought better of it, wanting to scavenge as many of the geth as possible, and that wave of fire would utterly obliterate far to many for my tastes. I let the mana dissipate, then settled for an Emit Force that knocked back a group and destroyed them. Suddenly I felt my danger senses go haywire, so I Immediately dropped into a crouch, and let a dozen rockets whiz by my head. From my crouch, I launched into the air, and pulled my mattock from its holster, and began to rain down high caliber rounds on the rocket troopers. The large rounds virtually shredded the geth, and the ensuing explosion wiped out a good chunk of the remaining geth. Just as the last trooper erupted, my rifle hissed a warning that it was about to over heat, so I hung it back on pack, and drew my Claymore shotgun, and let gravity bring me down on the headpiece of another colossus, where I immediately let off a shot.

 **Boooom!**

The mighty sound of the krogan made shotgun was only matched by the amount of damage it dealt. There was a hole in the geth's chassis I could easily fit through. I let the immense recoil send me back into the air, where I hung the gun back up under my pack, and drew my newly made katanas. They would be blooded, and earn their names today. I landed on the ground with a heavy thud, the solid earth splintering. Then I let the lightning of my level 2 Flashstep dissipate, and concentrated on the lightning always present in my body and in my blades. And called it forth.

The smell of ozone became overwhelming.

The sound of electricity scorching the earth became thunderous.

I was now a force of nature made manifest.

"True Flashstep."

Arcs of electricity as thick as my forearm and as red as congealed blood sparked across my body, my swords, and the area around me. The outside world almost drowned out by the sound of a thunderstorm raging in my ears. I began to take a step forward.

" _Godspeed."_

My foot made contact with the ground, and then suddenly I stood behind the remaining columns of marching geth, arms relaxed, blades retuned to their place on my back, lightning dissipating into a cloud of red static. And as one, each and every one of the remaining geth collapsed, like puppets with cut strings, their heads rolling away from the bodies. Then I hit my knees as a wave of pain rushed over me, the recoil from the technique hitting me like a speeding dreadnought. I hazarded a look at my bars.

"Geez, three-quarters of my HP, and all of my mana and stamina? Pretty sure if I was anything other than exactly what I am, that technique would have killed me. As it is, I'm pretty sure that fried all of my nerves, and probably nearly atomized muscles. Really need to level this up before I go killing anymore armies with it." I pulled my Estus flasks out and took a swig of each, and then let my natural regeneration fix the rest. After waiting a few minutes to be healed up to full, I used my telekinesis that I'd gained from killing Kalameet to pull the remains of the small army of geth I'd destroyed into my inventory. Waste not want not and all. After clearing the battlefield of useful parts, I set off at a more sedate run towards the site of the beacon. I had no need to rush, as I was going to wait till Shepard reached the dig site to make contact. Need the timeline to stay mostly intact, at least until the rachni queen is under my protection, and we free the heretic geth from the indoctrination. I slid to a halt just before I broke through the wood line near the dig site, and layered myself with all the stealth and hiding skills I possessed. Not even a god could find me as hidden as I now was. Then I sent one of my stealthed camera drones to wait at the spaceport to catch video of Saren killing Nihlus, because I knew Tali wasn't going to be able to obtain the voice recording like she did in cannon, since the Quarians no longer practiced the Pilgrimage, and instead joined my military as a coming of age ritual. She was currently stationed on the Citadel, acting as an informant, and an assistant to Barla Von now that he was working fulltime for me. That would make it easier to pick her up and assign her to Shepard once we secured his/her Spectre status.

As I settled in to wait, unsure how long I'd be here, I spotted the Normandy fly overhead, and a figure drop out. Must be Nihlus. Good. Not long now. Poor sod. I had worked with him a few times once I finally got the turians to take me off the noncombatant list. A good guy, and a damn fine solider. But he literally had to die at Saren's… hands? Claws? Talons? Huh, never bothered to ask. Anyway, it was the only way to get the Council off their collective asses and do something about Saren, or rather, have Shepard do something about it. And if I played my cards right, maybe I could squeeze Spectre status out of them as well. Getting easy access to Spectre class gear would be a huge boon for my plans. Buy one or two of the top class pieces of gear in each category to use as prototypes, and mass produce the hell out of em, then put em in warehouses all over the galaxy to be distributed during the Reaper War. But that for another time. I can hear footsteps, and gunfire approaching. Then I heard a female voice speak up.

"I can't believe Shepard is dead. That damn geth sniper tore right through her shields. That is some serious fire power."

I felt my mind grind to a screeching halt.

' _What the fuck?!_

XxXxXxX

 **Bet you didn't see that coming. What is our hero going to do now? Will he take Shepard's place as the savior of the galaxy and the bane of the Reapers, or will he continue to work from the shadows to thwart the machines' plans and allow another to take Shepard's place? Find out on the next chapter of Effect of a Gamer's Soul.**


	5. Chapter 5

I own nothing save original content.

XxXxXxX

' _Shit, Shepard is dead! What the fuck!?'_ I immediately created 3 clones. I pointed to the first.

"You go with Kidan and Ashley, take them to the spaceport like would normally happen." The I pointed to the second. "You, go recover Shepard's body, see if you can revive her. Even if you have to give her the Dark Sign. And lastly, you get to the Priscilla, and contact the Abysswalker. With Shepard down, we need to move up our plans. No sense in letting cannon happen as normal now. Tell them to send a Battlegroup to Noveria, and wait on my signal to move in. I'll be there within the month to rescue the Rachni Queen. And tell them to have Thorian on board. I may need to have him make a translation creeper if all else fails. Then have a commando group go collect Mordin Solis. If he doesn't want to come, have them stay as bodyguards and extra hands until I can get there myself. Then send the Humanitarian Taskforce here with relief and aid supplies." With my orders given, I activated my Wings of a Demon, dropped into level 2 flash step, and took off with a sonic boom. I couldn't let Nihlus die now. Kind of fucked up that I was going to let him die, but his death would almost directly lead to Shepard being inducted into the Spectres. But now I needed as many hands on deck as possible. As I topped a hill I saw Saren with his pistol pointed at the back of Nihlus' head. I summoned a chakram from my inventory, charged it up with lightning, and then flung it at Saren's gun hand.

"Nihlus! Duck!" I yelled out to him, hoping he'd listen. Likely owing to the many times I'd saved his skin over the years, he immediately, and with out even a moments hesitation, let all the tension out of body and rag dolled to the ground.

The half pound disk of sharpened titanite humming with electricity broke the sound barrier, and then sliced through Saren's trigger hand, armor, gun and all, just as he pulled the trigger, the small sliver of metal leaving the barrel and passing millimeters above Nihlus' head as he dropped. Then I reached out with my telekinesis, and wrenched on my chakram, and buried it in Saren's skull. He froze for a second, eyes wide in shock, then he dropped.

Dead

 _Dead._

 _ **Dead!**_

' _I just fucking killed Saren! Goddamn fighting instinct. I needed him alive. Fuck! I've just completely derailed cannon!'_ AsI contemplated the royal assfucking I'd just handed cannon, I landed a few feet away from Saren's now cooling corpse.

Nihlus had stood back up by this point, and was staring slackjawed at the body. Then he looked up at me, and I saw recognition in his eyes.

"John?! What the fuck are you doing here? Do you know what the hell is going on here?" He seemed slightly panicked.

I opened my mouth to answer, before I was quickly interrupted by the tell-tale sound of a Reaper's particle beam cannon winding up.

" _ **Fuck!"**_ I started flicking through menus. "Nihlus, you need to get behind me, _now!_ " Again, he obeyed without question, and hunkered down behind me. I finished flicking through my menus, and equipped a specially modified set of Black Iron armor, reinforced with stone dragon scales, and copious amounts of purified titanite. This armor was almost impossible to move in, but it made me a veritable fortress, and was made for one thing. Withstanding impossibly powerful attacks. I then began casting every defensive spell I learned, and several I created myself.

" **Magic Barrier! Great Magic Barrier! Crystal Magic Barrier! Deep Protection! Black Magic Barrier! Sacred Oath! Crystal Locking Wall! Crystal Pyramid! Triple Dragon Scale Rashomon! Stoneflesh! Steelflesh! Tears of Denial!"**

My spells cast, and ensconced in a dome of crystal, a massive pyramid of the same make, and behind 3 gargantuan stone gates, carved to resemble oni masks, I equipped the most powerful pair of shields in my possession. A pair of ten foot tall slabs of enchanted stone and steel, made to interlock and anchor to the ground.

I called them the Gates of Izalith. With a grunt of effort, I slammed the edges of them together, where they magically interlocked with a thunderous click. Then I slammed the bottom of the now monolithic slab of stone into the ground with a earth shaking thud, and the enchantment took hold, sending a pair of massive pylons into the ground. The whole process took less than a second, from equipping my Fortress of God armor, to the Gates ramming the pylons into the earth. I was turtled up as much as possible.

 _I could only hope it would be enough._

XxXxXxX

 **POV shift 3** **rd** **person**

It was a strange sight to behold. A dome of crystal suddenly sprouted from the ground, covering the winged figure, and the turian cowering behind him. Then, a positively mountainous pyramid of the same substance sprouted over the dome, the structure every bit of 1000 feet across at the base and almost as tall. And things didn't stop there. A trio of huge stone gates looking for all the world like demon masks rose from the ground, like some kind of twisted tree. Each gate twice as tall as the pyramid, just as wide, and 200 foot thick.

The world stood still for but a moment, the only sounds being the eerie ringing coming from the crystal, and the sound of the monstrous spaceship's death laser winding up.

Then all hell broke loose. The beam of destruction lanced out and smote the first two gates like the finger of God crushing an ant. The third held for a split second before it too was reduced to dust. Then the beam slammed into the pyramid, and that's when the true purpose of the gates was revealed. If one were to look closely at the crystalline structure, you would see that it was not a single crystal, but instead billions of small, irregularly shaped rice sized pieces. The gates weren't raised to stop the laser, but merely slow it down enough it didn't punch right through the pyramid. And the pyramid wasn't built to block the beam, but greatly lessen its power by refracting small streams of it away. The billions of tiny prisms were supposed to work to weaken the lance of deadly light enough so the Crystal Locking Wall could absorb enough of the power for the Gates of Izalith and the Fortress of God, combined with the many layers of defensive spells weaved around the winged figure to block the rest.

But, even all those defensive barriers weren't quite enough.

As the light show dissipated, and the dust settled, in the center of a crater, standing on a platform of mostly undamaged ground, stood two figures. One, a turian, mostly undamaged, only slightly singed. But the second, the one who bore the brunt of the attack, was not so lucky. Clasped in his hands were the broken remains of a once mighty shield. The seemingly impenetrable armor, now reduced to magma and slag sloughing off his body, leaving behind nasty burns. He dropped the stone shards in his hands, and then seemed to stare at thin air.

A moments pause.

A feral, crazed grin split his face. He held out his hand, which began to burn with an ethereal purple flame.

 _Biotics._

Then, a rod of crystal formed slowly in his hand, and the ground beneath his feet splintered, as if suddenly a great weight was placed on it. After nodding, as if pleased with the crystal staff, he allowed the biotic flame to coat it.

He drew back his arm, as if preparing to throw a javelin. A mighty shout tore free from his throat, the words echoing across the now silent valley, as if a commandment from God himself.

" _ **Rod of God : Gungnir!"**_

The spear left his hand, and was immediately followed by an immense crack of thunder, an intense burst of blue light( **a/n this would be Cherenkov Radiation. Produced when a particle or object passes through a medium at greater than the speed of light through said medium. )** and a massive explosion that shook the ground. When the smoke and dust cleared, the titanic sentient warship was clearly dead, crashed on the ground, a hole the size of a bus drilled through it.

XxXxXxX

 **POV shift John first person**

I shook my hand to get the feeling back in it, and unequiped the still smoldering remnants of my armor, and equipped my regular armor. I then spawned a clone to go throw Sovereign's corpse into the inventory. Definitely going to grab the IFF system, and go put down the Collectors and Harbinger as soon as possible. As the clone took flight, I turned to Nihlus. He was staring(a/n I think that's the right tense. Star would have a double r and stare would just drop the e. I think…. Please correct me if I am wrong) at me, wide eyed and slack-jawed. I just shook my head.

"Nihlus my friend, I really don't have the energy to deal with explaining what just happened. But, I sent a clone to the spaceport with Kidan. He'll explain everything. Now if you'll excuse me, I got a galaxy to save." With a burst of static and a wing beat, I was in the air headed for the Priscilla. I started to flick through the notifications that had built up.

 **In order to survive the extreme amount of Element Zero you have been exposed to, you have become a Biotic.**

 **Because of your use of immense amounts of biotic energy, status Biotic Burnout has been added.**

 **Biotic Burnout disables Biotics for 3 days.**

 **You have placed a Reaper corpse in your inventory. This unlocks new upgrades for the Priscilla.**

 **Upgrades available :Reaper grade AI core. Please note, no Reaper influence remains.**

 **Reaper grade hull armor**

 **Reaper grade shield tech**

 **Reaper grade main cannon**

 **Reaper IFF system. Please note, AI core upgrade required.**

 **Reaper grade drive core.**

I quickly bought all the new upgrades, and applied them. Then I topped the last hill between me and the Priscilla, and froze for a moment. In place of the small frigate class ship was a ship almost a kilometer and a half long, her hull sporting a gorgeous shade of royal purple. She used to be thin and long, meant to resemble a 2000's era hyper car. But now she looked more like 1970's era prime American muscle. Aggressive. Powerful. Sturdy. I could feel the thrumming of her new kinetic barrier from a mile away. I smiled. I really liked the new look. As I came in for approach, the air lock door slid open, and I landed, decontaminated, and entered.

"SOVI, you there?" I called out tentatively.

"Hello John. I like what you you've done with the place. And the AI core upgrade is nice. Gave me a true sense of self. Its…. Nice to feel… alive."

I breathed out a sigh of relief. She sounded just like normal, if a bit more… human than she did previously. "That's good to hear Sovi, I'm happy for you. How are the other systems holding up? The navigation, drive core, and IFF systems?"

A slight pause as she presumably ran a full diagnostic on the ship.

"All systems fully functional John. Shields at full capacity, spinal cannon locked and loaded, Reaper Death Beam fully operational, and nav systems synced. We are good to go. Also, your clone is currently in the coms room. A fleet has been dispatched to Noveria, and is planning to blockade the system on your command. A commando group is closing in on Mordin's clinic. And the HTF is en route, ETA 2 hours," the AI rattled off.

"Good, thank you Sovi. Now, would you please set a course for Noveria, and be sure to update all records that you have replaced… yourself? Anyway, you know what I mean. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take a nap, and sleep off all that damage." I turned to go tonmy quarters, when all of the doors slid shut, and Sovi came over the intercom in a droning, monotone voice.

"I'm sorry John, but I can't let you do that."(a/n I know it's not the actual quote, but close enough)

I froze mid stride, a feeling of absolute horror chilling the blood in my veins. Then, just as I began to charge up a full power soul stream to bust out of what I was sure was now controlled by an evil AI, when all the doors slid open, and Sovi began to laugh almost hysterically.

" I am… sorry… John, but I couldn't help my self. Oh my nonexistent god, I wish you could have seen the look on your face." She continued to chuckle, and… well I'd say gasp for air, but, ya know, she's an AI.

"So not cool Sovi." I pouted, and walked to my quarters, then collapsed on the bed, and immediately fell asleep.


End file.
